TAKE TWO: An alternative look at the day in sports

The old adage says that sport often imitates life. Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, however, took a blind eye straight out of the sports pages.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who, it is claimed, is a trained al-Qaida operative, allegedly plotted to explode Northwest Airlines Flight 253 out of Amsterdam as it neared Detroit on Christmas Day.

Abdulmutallab somehow got onboard the plane with explosives in his pants and wired them up in the lavatory. His attempt to detonate his jockeys, uh, blew up on him. A couple of audible pops, and liar-liar’s pants were on fire.

This, Napolitano claimed on Sunday talk shows, was proof that the security system “worked.”

Yeah, we’ve heard this story before.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig claimed that drug testing was working — before the infamous list of 104 positives surfaced.

Lance Armstrong and his supporters always turn to the “never tested positive” defense despite the inhuman run of titles while the cheaters could never catch him. Marion Jones never tested positive, either, but still we watch as all her gold is tarnished.

The system is never going to work until it is ahead of the game, rather than being reactive.